No Zebras for city zoo as CZA turns down proposal to buy them from Israel

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HYDERABAD: City zoo was prepping up to welcome two pairs of Zebras from Israel and with the Central Zoo authority turning the proposal down at the last minute, the procurement of these black and white striped animal has hit another roadblock.Since 1995, when the last pair of zebras passed away at the city zoo, Nehru Zoological Park(NZP) has been in the process of procurement of zebras.

Zoo authorities now have confirmed that CZA has cancelled the proposal for getting zebras from the Zoological Centre Tel Aviv-Ramat Gan, popular as the Safari Ramat Gan, Israel last month.“Everything was finalised. Paperwork was done. They sent us a price quotation excluding transportation and our veterinary team was ready to visit Israel and get the animals to the city. But the CZA’s response is shocking for us,” said a senior forest official.

Citing that no monetary value should be tagged to wild animals, the Central Zoo Authority has turned down the proposal sent by city zoo authorities to procure four Zebras at the cost about $70,000. “We had even worked out the modalities such as finalising logistics and identifying the place for construction of enclosure here. But CZA has clearly instructed that animals should be procured only through exchange or donation but not through financial transaction,” he said.

According to officials, the last Zebras in Nehru zoo had passed away in 1995 due to ageing and the last Zebra in South India named Seetha in Thiruvananthapuram zoo too died due to age-related ailments in March this year. Presently, there are no Zebras in all the five South Indian states and even in North India, there are only a few Zebras.“It has been more than two decades that we housed such exotic animal,” the official said. While in 2011, Zoo Assistant Director (vet) Dr M A Hakeem went to South Africa to bring 12 Zebras.